Unwilling From Earth

by Andrew Maclure

  The pre-emergent super soldier story was worrying though. If it were true, they might get a lot more of them. That would cause a problem as just the rumour was having an adverse effect on morale in his troops. He had tried executing some of them as an example to the others, but that hadn’t improved things.

  Not everything was going badly. His brilliant plan to take troops from three of the front lines, suspend the offensive against the native Gnn’Athians and heavily reinforce the Southern continent had worked perfectly. the Colonel’s army had been driven out, running like cowards for safety.

  OK, so they had re-invaded and established a beachhead, but only because they had somehow got some Ants to support them. His troops though, had held the line. The reserve troops on the continent were moving forwards to the front line to strengthen it and make it impenetrable. Even though the lack of contact with Tk'ng Dach Rrn was worrying, the main attack force should be arriving soon. It was so massive that it would quickly overwhelm any force the Colonel could assemble, even with those damned Ants. All he had to do was hold the line until they arrived.

  Having thought it through calmly, Fangur Rey felt much better about the way things were going. Even if the Colonel managed to get some more of these pre-emergent super soldiers, they, the Ants and the whole of their army would soon be trampled underfoot and ground into the dust. Or eaten. Tk'ng Dach Rrn was no fool. He probably realised they could hold out with the arms and ammunition they already had, and that there was an abundant supply of food. He had said himself, when he made his slightly terrifying visit, how good the natives tasted.

  He sat back in his chair, shifting himself to make his tail more comfortable and relaxed. He felt his stomach rumble. He was definitely feeling better about his future now. He smiled and licked his lips, a thin trickle of drool oozed unnoticed from the corner of his mouth. “Bring me food!” he bellowed. His order could be heard throughout his command centre. At least we won’t go hungry, he thought. The Gnn’Athians tasted delicious!.

  The Unwelcome Officer

  A straight line of troopers, two or three deep. Jogged towards Mark, in step, dressed in the black body armour of Sally’s army.

  “Doesn’t look like any of Sally’s troops, these must be the Sinth volunteers.” He thought.

  He stood watching as they approached, curious about how and why they kept in step. About twenty metres short of him they came to an abrupt stop and a black clad figure about fifty metres down the line came running over to him. As he got closer Mark could see the silver insignia on his shoulders.

  The soldier skidded to a stop a few inches from Mark. He didn’t look happy to see him. He looked like a mammal with bright blue eyes and long white eyelashes with short fine white fur covering his entire face, even his eyelids.

  “What are you doing here, soldier! Get into the front line! Now!” He screamed at Mark.

  Mark noticed that all the soldiers in the line were looking at him.

  “And you are?” Mark asked politely.

  “And you are - Sir! When you speak to me!” The white furred alien barked at him.

  Mark turned to the line and called out, “Can someone tell me who this is?”

  There was silence for a moment while the white furred soldier seemed to swell up with rage.

  “He’s Captain Re’an Mazur, Sinth army.” A voice from the line near him answered.

  “Who is your commanding officer in Sally’s army?” Mark called back to the line.

  “Obey my order soldier, or I’ll have you shot!” The white furred Captain bellowed at Mark before anyone had a chance to answer.

  Using the training Mike had given him in close combat fighting, in one swift movement Mark pulled the blade that Kar Fen had given him from its scabbard and thrust the point through the vulnerable point in body armour at the top of the neck, pressing the needle-like tip against the Captains' throat at the same time pulling the Captains arm hard up against his back. His movement was so unexpected to the Captain that by the time he realised what was happening it was too late for him to do anything about it.

  “Would you mind keeping quiet a moment please?” Mark said. “I’m trying to have a conversation with my colleagues over there.”

  “Anyone?” Mark called out to the line. The soldiers in the line were shifting uneasily, unsure what to do.

  “Lieutenant Colonel De’Nesh.” Another soldier called out.

  “Kate, can you open a link to De’Nesh on the command comm that all of these soldiers can hear?” Mark asked.

  “It’s ready when you are Mark.” Kate answered.

  “Lieutenant Colonel De’Nesh, this is is Mark. I have my knife at the throat of a Captain Re’an Mazur of the Sinth Army. What should I do with him Sir?”

  “That’s interesting Mark.” De’Nesh answered. “He is on-planet in direct contradiction of Sally’s orders. My advice would be to either push the knife in or have him escorted back to the landing area and put on a lander. Your choice.”

  “I think I’ll go for the lander option Sir.”

  “Very well, there will be one on the ground with the boarding ramp down. Select four escorts and order them to take him back to the landing area and accompany him on the lander back to Mother. I’ll arrange a reception for him. I’m on my way to the line with two hundred and three third tier reserves. Meet up with me when the fighting is over. Listen up all volunteers from the Sinth Army! Mark has no rank in Sally’s army but he is a member of her personal staff and carries her authority. Obey his orders or I’ll be down on you like ten tonnes of high-velocity shit!”

  With that, De’Nesh broke the connection.

  Staying on the link, Mark said to the Sinth volunteers “I want four troopers to escort Re’an Mazur back to the lander” He deliberately omitted his rank. Virtually the whole front row stepped forward.

  “You can’t do this! I’m an officer of the Sinth army!” Captain Re’an Mazur protested.

  “We didn’t really get off on the right foot, did we?” Mark said, with his mouth close to the Captains' ear.

  “I didn’t know who you were Sir. Now we’ve got that sorted out, you can release me.” The Captain blustered.

  “Fuck off, you’re going to explain to the Colonel why you disobeyed a direct order to not come here as a Sinth officer, why you illegally took charge of her troopers and why you threatened to have me shot. Good luck with that.”

  “You, you, you and you.” Mark called out to the four nearest soldiers. “Over here.”

  The four soldiers jogged over and stood, two each side of Mark and the Captain.

  “Thanks for volunteering.” Mark said. “Would you disarm him and escort him back to the lander please? When you’ve handed him over on Mother, you can either stand down and stay there or return here. I don’t know how popular he is…”

  “Not very.” Interrupted a heavily built reptile soldier.

  “In that case, I am making you personally responsible for his well-being and to make sure he reaches Mother without any bruises, broken bones or wounds.” Mark said, addressing the reptilian.

  “Yes Sir!” The reptilian answered.

  “Thank you, but I’m Mark, don’t call me sir.”

  “Yes Sir! Er, Mark.” The reptilian responded.

  Mark jogged over toward the line of troopers, looking closely among them. He saw what he was looking for and ran over to a group who had stepped forward as volunteers. There were two Krendor amongst them. Mark pushed into the group and spoke to them.

  “You two, stay here.” He told them.

  Opening the command channel to the Sinth volunteers, Mark addressed them. “Listen up, you can see the fighting in front of you. You don’t need a commander right now, I want you to get over there and support our troops. Ally yourself to any officers and fight with them as a team. Go and make me proud of you!” He liked the sound of that. It sounded good when Orange had said it to him, he hoped it made him sound like he knew what he was doing. It seemed to have effect as th
e line of Sinth broke into a run towards the fighting line. The glint of knives, fighting axes and short swords in the line as they ran made a chilling sight in the late afternoon gloom.

  Friends Arrive

  With the rest of the troopers throwing themselves into the fight, Mark stood in the mud with two angry looking Krendor towering over him.

  The taller of the Krendor stepped forward. “Why have you kept us out of this. Don’t you like Krendor?” He demanded, menacingly.

  “I want you two to stick with me. I’m crap at hand to hand and almost got killed when the assault started, but I’ve got a Krendor Battle Buddy in there and I need to be by his side. I’ve fought a Krendor and I know how tough you are in a fight so I stand more chance of surviving and keeping my Battle Buddy alive with you next to me.”

  The tall Krendor tilted his head back and did the roaring laugh thing. “We’ll keep you alive Sir. But - how did a puny little mammal like you get to be a Krendor Battle Buddy?”

  Mark sighed. “First, I’m not Sir, I’m Mark. Second, well, it’s a long story. I don’t know if your AI’s can lock onto one of our troopers yet, if not, I’ll lead you to him.”

  The tall Krendor said. “OK Mark, I’m Boze Dren, this is Gor San. Our AI’s can find another Krendor, what’s his name.”

  “Corporal Kar Fen. You sure you can find him?”

  “Kar Fen! That mad bastard! We know him from the Sinth army. He used to be in our unit.” Boze Dren paused a moment. “Got him. Let’s go.”

  The two Krendor each grasped one of Mark’s upper arms with their large claws and lifted him off the ground. They broke into a run with Mark dangling between them like a rag doll. Their long powerful legs pounded along at a much higher speed than Mark could have managed. They pulled out short swords as they ran and ploughed into the melee knocking friendly troopers and enemy soldiers flying out of their path as they pushed into the fight. Their way forward was blocked by a large enemy reptile. It looked like the same species that Bai Reah had dispatched earlier, but bigger. It was splashed with a lot of blood. When it saw them, it swept its arms around and cleared a space between them. It opened its jaws and let out a deafening roar.

  Mark rather hoped Boze Dren and Gor San would drop him before taking on the monster. but they didn’t seem to think it was necessary. The huge reptile had a thick, curved and sharp looking sword in one hand and a short handled, double bladed battle axe in the other. The two Krendor roared back and threw themselves, and Mark, at the monster. Mark thought he was about to end up in the mud in several pieces. In a coordinated move, the two Krendor ducked under the enemy’s arms, dragging Mark face down through the mud, and came back up when they were right against it. Mark found himself pressed against its body armour with his face buried into its stomach. He was almost immediately yanked back in time to see blood spurting from either side of its neck. Then, it seemed in slow motion, it fell forwards on its face, twitching, blood pouring into the mud.

  “Did you enjoy that?” Gor San shouted over the sound of fighting, with a big grin on his face.

  “Not in the slightest.” Mark answered, spitting out mud.

  They pushed forward another few metres and found Kar Fen next to Renall, outnumbered and fighting hard. This time the two Krendor dropped Mark into the mud and charged into the fight. Mark landed face down and immediately got trampled on by an enemy soldier retreating under the frenzied attack by a trooper that looked like the same species that had given him the medallion before he boarded the lander on Mother. The Wookie leapt over Mark and got his short sword into the soldier's armour at the weak point under the armpit, drove the blade deep in, and it was all over. The wookie yanked the blade out, spun around to his right and leapt onto another enemy soldier who was getting the better of one of their troopers.

  Mark scrambled to his feet before he got trodden on again, unsure of what he could do. The fighting was less concentrated now with small fighting groups spread out around him. There wasn’t enough room to use his Mark Eight without risking hitting his own side and he was reluctant to try using his knife. Apart from not knowing how to use it, the thought of cutting someone with it made him feel a bit queasy.

  The decision on what to do was made for him as an enemy soldier on the fringes of a fight spotted him standing by himself and started walking towards him, swishing his knife backwards and forwards in a menacing way. Mark dropped to one knee and targeted the soldier so that his line of fire was upwards and any stray shots would go harmlessly up into the air. He fired a continuous burst of fire into the soldier who laughed as its energy field armour absorbed the pulses, oblivious to the fact that its armour was being further weakened by Mark’s field attenuator. As it got closer to Mark it suddenly realised its armour was about to collapse and stopped laughing. Its armour pulsed and collapsed. Mark could see the surprised look on its face as it dropped to the ground, full of holes.

  “Are you having fun Mark?” Sally’s voice came to him clearly through the command link.

  “Can’t say I am.” Mark replied. “Where are you?”

  “About sixty metres behind you, Orange and I will be with you shortly.”

  Mark spun around but all he could see behind him were groups of soldiers fighting savagely though there seemed to be more of Sally’s troopers than enemy soldiers. He saw a group of three enemy jogging across a cleared area to one of the fights where the number of enemy and friendly soldiers seemed about even. They were about fifty metres from Mark. He pulled a grenade from his belt and threw it so it dropped between him and the enemy soldiers and quickly followed with five more. He dropped to one knee and fired at the soldiers.

  “Two grenades each, single shot.” He told his AI.

  The soldiers paused as Mark’s fire sparkled off their armour. When they saw he was by himself, changed direction and ran towards him. As they came in range of the grenades, Mark's AI detonated them and two high-velocity slugs of metal hit each of the soldiers. Mark concentrated his fire on the soldier on the left first, its armour quickly collapsed and the soldier fell to the ground. Mark switched his fire to the second, who was by now quite close and realised that he had made a bad misjudgement. He could take down two soldiers using this tactic but he didn’t have time to take down the third before it was on top of him. The second soldier dropped about ten metres in front of Mark, then the third one was on him before he had fired another shot. Mark grabbed the muzzle of his Mark Eight with his left hand and used it to fend off the first blow from the soldier but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it off for long. As he was preparing to block the next blow, a large dark object came flying towards him and Orange landed on top of the enemy soldier, plunging a long blade deep into its body, although he would probably have crushed it to death with his massive weight.

  “You didn’t think of using an extra grenade?” Mark’s AI asked.

  “You couldn’t just wait a minute until we got here.” Sally said. As she jogged to a stop beside him.

  “You’re muddy.” Orange observed. “Have you been laying down taking a nap?”

  “Yes, how did you get so much mud on you?” Sally asked.

  Mark thought about being dragged through the mud by the two Krendor, being dropped into more mud when they joined in the fight and then being trampled underfoot by the two fighting soldiers.

  “It’s a long story.” He said.

  “I’ve brought you a present.” Orange said shrugging off his backpack. He pulled out a long-handled club with a studded ball at the end of it and handed it to Mark.

  “You shouldn’t be able to damage yourself too much with that.” Orange told him. “But you should be able to distract them at close quarters.”

  “Er, thanks Orange.” Mark said.

  He thought “A mace! This gets more medieval by the minute. What next? Bows and arrows?” He thought briefly of Agincourt.

  “Come on you two, let's help out our troops.” Sally said as she broke into a jog towards the nearest fighting group.
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  With Sally and Orange attacking enemy soldiers with flashing blades and Mark poking at their heads with his mace, the fight was soon over.

  “Right soldiers, you’re with me.” Sally said to the surviving troops. “We’re going to go as a unit from group to group clearing up and gathering more of us. I want this finished quickly so we can regroup and drive forwards. I can hear Ant heavy calibre fire way ahead of us. We need to clear this and catch up with them.”

  Mark looked around and saw fewer fighting groups, and as one side or the other prevailed, they ran forwards. There were a lot of dead and wounded laying on the ground, rescue and recovery specialists in pale blue body armour were moving among them giving first aid and loading Sally’s soldiers onto automated stretchers. They dispatched wounded enemy soldiers.

  “Any free soldiers, to me!” Sally ordered across the command link.

  “While they’re on their way to us - everyone, with me!” Sally ordered as she broke into a run towards the next nearest fight.

  Sally quickly gathered about two hundred soldiers and they made short work of mopping up the remaining skirmishes. Now the area was secure, landers came in to take the dead and wounded. A lander with soldiers who had been injured in earlier engagements and recovered enough to return to the front line landed close to them. One soldier came over to Mark